I received an e-mail from a friend in response to my last blog. I just thought I'd post my reply...hope you don't mind since I forgot to ask permission but I didn't include any names just in case. Let me know and I'll take this down.
Thanks for your e-mail, it's a nice change from the masses of junk mail =)
I know you probably won’t agree with me but just the fact that you’re wondering…I believe it’s a ‘God nudge’. You may believe that these thoughts are purely your own. That you’re not trying to seek God in any way. That you’re questioning for completely different motives. You may be asking simply to have a good discussion. Which is cool and I enjoy it immensely. But I believe that our God’s placed these questions on your heart, that they’re not just from you alone. And I believe that He’s surrounded you with the specific friends that you have so that you can ask questions and hopefully see Him at work in their lives.
I don't think I can explain in any different terms so that you could better comprehend because it's like you said, it’s one of those things no one can really explain. That's why I said I wish you could experience it for yourself. It's like...'the wind.' I'm stealing this analogy from the movie A Walk to Remember (great girly movie btw, bawled my eyes out).
You can't see 'wind' in and of itself but:
-you know it's there through the things it affects (ie. waves rising in hurricanes, dust & dirt swirling in tornados)
-you can definitely feel it (ie. on your skin, in your hair)
-and its power cannot be denied. Sometimes the power can be wonderful (as in the case with windmills and sailboats) and sometimes its power can be devastating (ie. trees bending and houses collapsing).
As a woman of science, did the scientific questioning part of you not speak up during your revelations about God?
Heck yeah! Of course…I think it’s in our nature to question things, especially in an age where we’re taught that everything must be supported by scientific proof. I had crazy amount of questions.
-How did they know that the Bible wasn’t just a bunch of guys making up stories?
-How did they know that Jesus wasn’t made up as well? Did He even really exist?
-How do they know that Jesus was God?
It went on and on! And I’ve spoken to other ppl who are from a science background (optometry, nursing, etc.) and we were very similar in that we wanted cold hard facts…no emotional, feel-y stuff involved.
At that time, someone recommended that I read Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. It’s funny now in retrospect cuz I remember arguing with the book while reading it. But I liked how the author introduced scientific evidence and arguments similar to a murder trial. And since I enjoy reading suspense/mystery novels, I found this book to be an easy read.
I don’t know if this has to do with anything but all the people I’ve known who’ve read this book happen to be women. If you believe that men and women have different logic *grin* then perhaps I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist by Norman Geisler would be a better choice. I haven’t read it yet but there’s a guy in my class who was seeking and recommends it so maybe I will. But if you’re interested in the 1st book, you can borrow mine the next time I see you – just let me know.
Secondly, how do you reconcile your science training with matters of faith?
As I see it, there’s nothing to reconcile. If anything, my science training just further supports my faith! *Warning, I’m going to be a geek here*
Have you ever actually sat back and thought about what you’re learning? I don’t do it too often cuz I’m too busy trying to memorize all the info but sometimes I like to think about my molecular biology course from undergrad. How we learn about transcription factors, silencers and repressor genes, etc (not that I remember much). But all these proteins, they’re like little machines – they each have their own job to do. If something goes wrong, they can usually fix it unless it’s really bad. And we know (or at least we think we do) all this stuff about these little guys - how to manipulate them, how to delete/suppress them, or in some cases maybe even multiply them.
And they’re so tiny!!! Have you ever thought about how tiny they are? Yes we can break them down into chemicals, and even further into atoms. And somehow they combine together to form proteins and are found working on DNA, in the form of chromosomes, which is inside the nucleus (think of how many other things are inside the nucleus), which is inside a cell (think of how many other things are inside the cell), which makes up a tissue, and forms an organ, found in our body. That's how tiny we’re talking about. I mean think about replication and all the little proteins involved in that – polymerases, helicases, etc. I simply CANNOT believe that all this was evolution. That all these proteins somehow suddenly up and decided one day that they had a certain job to do. There HAS to be a higher power that planned such intricacies; there’s too much detail involved to be explained away by chance alone.
And think about it, that’s only one organ we’re talking about. Somehow all the organs in our bodies can communicate with each other and somehow we can move and form thoughts and experience emotions…and communicate! I am typing this out and you understand the words that you’re reading. All because of a bunch of chemical reactions and electric impulses…How amazing is that?!! How can you even wrap your mind around that?
If you think about how much we know about science…all the knowledge, all the theories that we’ve accumulated over the years, you’d realize that we’ve barely scratched the surface. Ask any scientist or any professional in a science-related field and you’d find that the reason we’re in this area of study is because there’s always something new and exciting to discover – to learn. It never ends. And there will always be more unanswered questions. Questions that I think can only be answered when we believe. Science and faith go hand in hand, one doesn’t need to be sacrificed for the other…they’re both yearning to discover the truth and I believe they ultimately lead to the same answer.
I love this passage in Job 38 because it acknowledges who God really is through nature:
Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions?
Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were it's footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone -
while the morning starts sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?
It continues on and shows how God's hand is in everything. To read the whole passage go here. As always, comments (or e-mails) are more than welcome. 2 more weeks until Hong Kong!
P.S. Thanks everyone for the cards, phone calls & e-mails. This was the best birthday ever in so many ways. I can't believe how incredibly loved I am...thank you God.
